Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On the Deputy's first question, I do not have the payment date for the first payment yet. I have spoken to the Minister for Finance about this and he indicated to me that the first payments would land in business accounts before Christmas, but I do not want to swear to that. I will follow this up with him.

Although I have not seen the Wise Business survey itself, from the reports I have seen it is worrying. I was certainly worried when I read the headline figures from it. There are other business surveys that are less pessimistic. A recent survey from Behaviour and Attitudes with a sample size of 1,500 showed that 45% of businesses reported increased turnover in the past six months, with 18% reporting a decrease, and 61% of SMEs reporting a profit this year compared to only 53% last year. Most of the companies surveyed said they were more likely to hire staff than let staff go.

On banking, the main thing we are doing is bringing in Government-backed loans, which allow businesses to borrow at lower rates and for longer periods. As the Deputy will be aware, banks are leaving Ireland, whether people like it or not. They can make more money with the same capital elsewhere. This is the reason they are leaving. Any competition would have to come from non-bank actors in the main.

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